Search This Blog

I am excited to share with you that yesterday - July 25th -- I officially filed to run for the Dunwoody City Council District Two seat, At Large. I hope to meet with you and as many other Dunwoody residents as possible in the months ahead as I work to serve on City Council, discussing with you ways of “putting Dunwoody first”, creating a better future for our entire community, giving all residents a voice on City issues.

Membership in the City of Dunwoody's Boards

I have some thoughts on how the City of Dunwoody can enhance the process for membership on it's citizen boards.

a. Open & Transparent Membership
Applications, which would be subject to Georgia Open Records Act.

Today, there is no formal or documented
process for a citizen to request to be a member of any city board.

Put application forms on the
city’s website & allow general public to apply to these various Committees
& Commissions. Applications are sent to the City Clerk.

Example: City of Marietta does
this http://www.mariettaga.gov/city/cityhall/committees/bza
(See application listed at the bottom of their web page). -- similar to other boards,
too -- By the way, interestingly enough their ZBA & Planning Commission
members receive compensation of $100 - $150 per month!!

b. Residency / Work Requirement:

We presently don’t require
members to be a resident of Dunwoody. That might be okay for some committees
(Sustainability – uses PCID reps, etc.). However for residency, perhaps there
needs to be something tied into how long they have lived here. Perhaps at least
a couple of years. For example, someone was appointed to one of our boards after just moving here from out of state.
This person hadn't had any time to orient themselves to our issues, history or even display
an understanding of our Master Plans. What were this person's qualifications prior to being presented as an appointee to
this board that made his stand out from other applicants?

c. The Application Itself. Marietta’s contains
items such as the following:

· Reasons why you want to serve

· Experience, Background &
Qualifications

· References

d. Including the application & related
data (Resume, confirmed references, bio, etc.) in the Council Agenda Packet for
all to review.

e. Change Ordinance to allow any council
member to recommend appointments

The Design Review Advisory Board
for the Dunwoody Village states the qualifications for members (attached
members, all expiring in 2013) to be the following:

The committee shall have seven
volunteers that have qualifications and design experience, and have a budget
sufficient to retain expert advice from the professional community when needed.
The recommended content would be four individuals with qualified experience in
architectural design and three members who have knowledge of historical
submissions.

Ref: DIVISION 3. - DUNWOODY
VILLAGE OVERLAY DISTRICT -- Sec. 27-1277

i. Do they all have these qualifications?

ii. What is a “Historical Submission”?

iii. Are there additional qualifications that
would be beneficial?

iv. What is the scope / role / mission / duties
of this Board? It’s not actually spelled out in our code

Just some thoughts to ponder. If you'd like to see some of these changes, send an email to the Mayor & Council at: CouncilMembers@dunwoodyga.gov